Pan- Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere on Wednesday said the choice of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a Southerner as presidential candidate by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is delightful.
Afenifere’s spokesperson, Comrade Jare Ajayi, said this in his reaction to the emergence of Tinubu at the APC presidential primary, recalling that it was a known fact that the Southern and Middle Belt Leadership Forum (SMBLF), of which Afenifere is a key member, had been in the forefront of those advocating that power must shift to the southern part of the country, come 2023.
According to him, for power to move to the South, there must be a Southern candidate or candidates, saying that was the reason Afenifere was strident in its calls on the political parties to field Southern candidates in the forthcoming presidential poll.
He, therefore, said that APC had met that minimum condition of fielding a Southern candidate by electing former Lagos State governor, Tinubu, to fly its flag.
“It is a known fact that the Southern and Middle Belt Leadership Forum, of which Afenifere is a key member, has been in the forefront of those advocating that power must shift to the southern part of Nigeria come 2023.
“For power to move to the South, there must be a Southern candidate or candidates. That was why we were strident in our calls on the political parties to field Southern candidates in the forthcoming Presidential election.
“By electing former Lagos State governor, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, to fly its flag, the All Progressives Congress has met that minimum condition of fielding a Southern candidate,” he stated.
“In summing up, the emergence of a person of Southern extraction is highly welcomed. It is our hope that this will translate into power shifting to the South come 2023,” he added.
Speaking further, the Afenifere chieftain recalled that a return to True Federalism through restructuring of the country had been an article of faith for Afenifere for a long time, saying the group demanded that “the next president must get the country restructured immediately on assumption of office if the present administration under retired General Muhammadu Buhari failed to do so before leaving office,” Ajayi said.
“Not only that, the next administration owes us the duty of ensuring that the country is not only safe for everybody, the operating system must be such that no section or group would be in a position to dominate the other,” he said.
This was just as he charged the Federal Government to ensure that in the meantime, “the suffocating insecurity situation in the country be tamed immediately by, among other things, allow for the establishment of State Police right now.”
He further charged the government to also put a stop to the kid-glove manner with which bandits and terrorists were being treated in the country as of today.
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